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Strong ground motion attenuation in Aswan area, Egypt

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Abstract

Recent and paleo seismicity indicate that moderate seismic activity is relatively large for Aswan area. This is a warning on the possibility of occurrence of earthquakes in the future too. No strong motion records are available in Aswan area for engineers to rely upon. Consequently, the seismological modeling is an alternative approach till sufficient instrumental records around Aswan become available. In the present study, we have developed new ground motion attenuation relationship for events spanning 4.0 ≤  M w ≤ 7.0 and distance to the surface projection of the fault up to 100 km for Aswan based on a statistically simulated seismological model. We generated suites of ground motion time histories using stochastic technique. The ground motion attenuation relation describes the dependence of the strength of the ground motions on the earthquake magnitude and distance from the earthquake. The proposed equation for peak ground acceleration (PGA) for the bed rock is in the form of: \( {\mathbf{log}}{\text{ }}\left( {{\mathbf{PGA}}/{\mathbf{gal}}} \right){\text{ }} = {\mathbf{1}}.{\mathbf{24}} + {\mathbf{0}}.{\mathbf{358}}{M_{\mathbf{w}}} - {\text{ }}{\mathbf{log}}\left( {\mathbf{R}} \right){\text{ }}-{\text{ }}{\mathbf{0}}.{\mathbf{008}}{\text{ }}{\mathbf{R}}{\text{ }} + {\text{ }}{\mathbf{0}}.{\mathbf{22}}{\text{ }}{\mathbf{P}} \). Where PGA is the peak ground acceleration in gal (cm/s2); Mw, its moment magnitude; R is the closest distance between the rupture projection and the site of interest; and the factor P is a dummy variable. It is observed that attenuation of strong motion in Aswan is correlated with those used before in Egypt.

Abstract

لقد أظهرت دراسات الزلزالية القديمة والحديثة أن مستوى النشاط الزلزالى عالى نسبيا لمنطقة أسوان ، الأمر الذى يعتبر بمثابة إنذار لاحتمالية حدوث زلازل فى المستقبل القريب. ونظرا لعدم توفر تسجيلات للحركة الأرضية القوية بمنطقة أسوان يعتمد عليها المهندسين فى تصميم المنشآت، فإن النمذجة الزلزالية هى الاتجاه البديل حتى تتوفر التسجيلات الكافية للمنطقة. فى هذه الدراسة تمكن الباحثون من إستنتاج علاقة جديدة لمنطقة أسوان تمثل اضمحلال الحركة الأرضية القوية للزلازل التى يتراوح قدرها بين أكبر من أو تساوى 4 درجات إلى أقل من أو تساوى 7 درجات على مقياس ريختر ولمسافات تصل الى 100 كم من المسقط الرأسى لنقطة الكسر بناء على محاكاة نموذج زلزالى إحصائى. تم توليد أطقم عديدة من السجلات الزمنية للحركة الأرضية بواسطة الطريقة العشوائية. تربط علاقة الإضمحلال بين القدر الزلزالى والمسافة من الزلزال على النحو التالى: \( \log PGA{\left( {gal} \right)} = 1.24 + 0.358Mw - \log {\left( R \right)} - 0.008R + 0.22P \)حيث أن PGA تمثل أقصى قيمة للعجلة الأرضية (جال)، وأن Mw يمثل القدر العزمى للزلزال، أما R فتمثل أقرب مسافة بين المسقط الرأسى لنقطة الكسر والمكان ذو الإهتمام. وقد أظهرت العلاقة الجديدة تطابقا مع علاقات الإضمحلال التى تم إستخدامها من قبل داخل مصر.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Seismology Department, National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG), Helwan Cairo, Egypt

    A. Deif, Azza Abed, Kamal Abdel-Rahman & Enayat Abdel Moneim

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  1. A. Deif
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  2. Azza Abed
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  3. Kamal Abdel-Rahman
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  4. Enayat Abdel Moneim
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Correspondence to Kamal Abdel-Rahman.

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Deif, A., Abed, A., Abdel-Rahman, K. et al. Strong ground motion attenuation in Aswan area, Egypt. Arab J Geosci 4, 855–861 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-009-0103-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-009-0103-8

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